Alfredo Cunha

BIOGRAPHY

Alfredo Cunha was born in 1953 in Celorico da Beira. Influenced by his father, he chose a career in photojournalism.

He began his professional career in advertising and commercial photography in 1970. Later, in 1971, he collaborated with the daily newspaper “O Século” and with “O Século Ilustrado”. In 1977 the worked for the Portuguese News Agency (ANOP) and later for the news agencies “Notícias de Portugal” (1982) and Lusa (1987). In between, he was also the official photographer of the Portuguese Presidents, António Ramalho Eanes and Mário Soares.

From 1989 to 1997 he worked as Chief Photographer and Editor in one of the most important Portuguese daily newspapers “Público”, when he decided to join the Edipresse Group as Chief Photographer. In 2000, he started working on the weekly magazine “Focus” and in 2002 he worked in collaboration with Ana Sousa Dias on a TV (national public channel – RTP2) cultural show. He has been the Chief Photographer and Editor on a major daily newspaper “Jornal de Notícias” from 2003 to 2009 and the Photography Director of the “Global Imagens” photo agency from 2010 to 2012.

Currently, he works as a freelancer and is developing several editorial projects and working in close collaboration with AMI (International Medical Assistance) in several places of the world.The project consists on the publication of a book entitled “Toda a Esperança do Mundo” (All the Hope in the World), which will be published by the end of 2015.

His first major photo report was the revolutionary events of the Portuguese 25th of April of 1974. Shortly after, he travelled through Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome, East Timor and Cape Verde, capturing important moments of the Portuguese decolonization. Among his important photo works are:

- The revolutionary Portuguese process of 1974 – 1975;- The Chiado’s fire of 1988- Romania after the fall of Nicolae Ceausesco in 1989- The War in Iraq in 2003 with the Portuguese troops

Alfredo Cunha got several awards and honours, including one from the Order of Infante D. Henrique, honourable mentions in the Euro Press Photo Awards in 1994 and the VisãoBES award for photojournalism in 2007.

Part of Alfredo Cunha’s photo collection is at the Portuguese Centre of Photography in Oporto and in the Lisbon Photographic Archive as well as part of some private collections.